Dave Anderson, Grass Valley CA

Dave Anderson didn’t start throwing fastpitch softball until he was 34 years old, but clearly had a knack for it.

Just days before celebrating his 61st birthday on Saturday, Anderson had pitched his A-to-Z Supply team into Wednesday’s championship game of the men’s fastpitch postseason tournament at Memorial Park’s Les Eva Field in Grass Valley.

Although Anderson and his teammates fell 7-6 to Anything Green on a walk-off, inside-the-park home run, the hard-throwing righthander was still pretty pleased with his team’s performance.

He took five questions from Sports Editor Brian Hamilton after the title game.

Q. Why are you still playing fastpitch and not slow-pitch softball?

A. â€œI tried slow-pitch once. I went out as a 50-year-old. I bombed one to the left-field fence and ran around the bases to third. But I was standing there and they called me out, because of a rule they had about being able to run past the bases. … I figured I was in the wrong place and I went back to fastpitch.â€

Q. Why do you prefer fastpitch?

A. â€œThis is way more fun. It inspires you to stay young, to work out and keep your weight down. And I’ve been playing with these guys for 15 years now.â€

Q. How long have you been pitching?

A. â€œI started when I was 34 in Colfax. I won my first game, won the league and won the â€˜C Classic.’ In 1989, we won the state and in 1990 we went to our first nationals. So I guess, it’s been 26 years now.â€

Q. In covering the regular-season championship and now the postseason tournament championship game, I’ve watched a pair of one-run thrillers. Is this league always so exciting?

A. â€œThere are some tremendous ballplayers here. You go to tourneys and see less hitting power than you’ll see here. Teams like the (regular-season champion) Bulldogs and this (tourney champion) Anything Green team really hit the ball.â€

Q. Why are there so many great players competing here, in this league?

A. â€œIt’s pretty much the last (fastpitch) league around. When I started, there was also a league in Auburn, five leagues in Roseville, two in Sacramento and two in Colfax. And now, this is the only one left.â€